At Centigo there are no managers or a CEO who tells you what to do. Instead we believe in the co-worker’s ability to identify opportunities and pursue them based on their ambition.
During this summer one of our consultants, Albin Johansson, had some time to spare between projects and decided to use that extra time to support Entrepreneurs Without Borders (EWB). EWB sent two master level students from KTH Royal Institute of Technology to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the summer to work with two social entrepreneurs.
EWB’s main idea is to support Social Entrepreneurs around the world to enable them to succeed and create a better future for themselves and their communities.
Large impact during short period of time
Albin Johansson has acted as a coach for the students Marc Navarro Sotés and Oscar Blanco, focusing on helping them set the scope of their projects and run the projects once they have arrived in Addis Ababa.
Flowius distribution system enables water supply in rural Ethiopia
Marc has been working with the social start-up 3BL Enterprises and their product Flowius, a water distribution system for delivering water to villages in rural Ethiopia. The aim of the collaboration between EWB and Centigo was to help 3BL Enterprises create a scalable and sustainable business model, for them to grow and help as many people as possible. Enabling water supply to villages allows for more time to start a business, study, and have more leisure time.
Coffee Navigators CRM system can increase price for coffee beans with up to 40%
Oscar, has been working with the start-up Coffee Navigator. They have developed a simple yet effective CRM system for coffee farmers and coffee roasters, enabling them to track the origin and quality of the coffee they are producing.
By separating different coffee qualities, farmers could potentially increase the price of coffee beans by up to 40%. EWB and Centigo worked on helping Coffee Navigator understand the value chain and how they can scale up their business over time.
The projects provide valuable lessons to use in everyday work
Donnie SC Lygonis, the founder of EWB:
– I started Entrepreneurs Without Borders because I wanted to create a bottom-up solution to help people help themselves. Top-down charity doesn’t always end up where it is most needed, and we feel that by empowering people to start and run their own businesses (or be employed by someone else who is) is one of the most powerful ways of helping rural communities in developing countries.
For Centigo, Albin continues:
– I have set up a personal goal: I want to actively create 100 real jobs in economies such as Ethiopia before I turn 40, and I am about to turn 30 next year. I would like to do that by supporting and starting businesses with a triple bottom line approach. By spending some of my time this summer supporting Oscar and Marc in their work in Ethiopia I have started that journey. I have also learnt a lot, not only about the Ethiopian start-up environment as such, but also a lot about the challenges that entrepreneurs face in environments like this one.
Contact Albin Johansson if you are interested in knowing more about above mention projects or the cooperation with Entrepreneurs Without Borders.
